brustlein



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARM O'R-PIERCING PROJ ECTILE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 602,972, dated April 26, 1898.

Applloatlon filed December 16, 1897. Serial No. 662,188. (No model.) Patented in France January 4, 1896, No. 244,105, and in England June 3,1B96,No.12,890.

- useful Improvement in Caps for Shells or Projectiles, (for which Letters Patent have been issued in France, No. 244,105, dated Janu: ary 4, 1895, and in Great Britain, No. 12,890, dated June 3, 1895,) of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention has for its object to provide a cap for shells or projectiles which will preserve the head of the projectiles from breakage upon impact with the plate or other obstruction, give an initial action of the projectile upon the obstruction in degree as if the projectile were uncovered, and which will not impede or deflect the flight of the projectile.

The projectile is formed with a conoidal head, and in my invention this conoidal head is enveloped by a cap of conoidal shape having either a pointed or rounded end. The projectile at the lower end of the conoidal head is provided with a shoulder, and-beneath this shoulder is inserted a bead or flange of corresponding section formed on the corresponding portion of the cap, thecapbeing shrunk at this point upon the projectile.

The cap is so treated that its outer or strikin'g end is formed very hard, while that portion directly in contact with the projectile is soft, but tough. The hard striking end of the cap should extend beyond the surface of the cap a distance sufficient to give a hard striking-body, while the soft and tough portion of the cap contactingwith the projectile should extend outward a distance sufiicient to insure complete protection to the point of the projectile.

The outer or striking end of ,the cap, being hard,will strike the obstruction with the same degree of force at the initial point of impact as if struck by the point of an uncapped projectile, and while the cap itself may be shattered the point of the projectile itself, being fully protected by the soft metal between it and the striking-point of the cap, will'con- 'tinue the action started by the hard-pointed cap.

Theform of the cap with relation to the head of the projectile, conforming substantially to it in shape, is such as to in no way retard or deflect the fiight'of the projectile.

I will now describe my invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 7

Figure 1' is a section of a shell provided with a rounded cap. Fig. 2 is a section of a shell provided with a pointed cap.

' A is the cap, and B is the projectile.

The cap A may be either pointed or rounded OE With, say, five centimeters radius, or it may terminate in a blunt surface of suitable configuration. If the construction be as shown in Fig. 1, the thickness of the metal of the cap in front of the point of the shell at 0 should be considerable, while it may vary according to the particular caliber or bore for which the projectile is constructed. It should not, however, be less than three centimeters for sixteen centimeters bore. As, moreover, in firing at an angle or obliquely in this form of cap the situation of the impact of the point J of the projectile proper is not the same as or does not coincide with the point of the impact of the cap, it is necessary for oblique firing to make the diameter of the front part of the said cap sufficient to prevent thepoint of the projectile itself leaving the zone of action of the cap when the point of the projectile proper meets the plate fired at. With this object in viewit is preferable that the cap should be of such thickness at d that, supposing it were bisected at right angles to its axis or on the same level as the point of the projectile,the radius thus obtained should be larger than or at least equal to the thickness at c.

The portion of the cap which is in direct contact with the point and the segmental surface of the projectile is, unlike this segmental segmental surface at that part.

With a cap the front part of which is hard it may happen that upon the moment of its first contact with the plate fired at it will enter the plate to a certain depth, which may reduce the extent of displacement or sweep of the cap upon the plate in oblique firing.

Now as it is essential that the point of the projectile proper should touch the surface fired at as near as possible to the point already shaken by the cap, so as to more readily and efiectively continue its perforating action, it may be preferable, rather than to terminate such cap simply by a rounded surface, as shown in Fig. 1, to extend the same in the shape of an obtuse cone, Fig. 2, whereby the.

point of initial impact will be made to coincide with the axis of theprojectile proper instead of being placed inthe rear of it. The

directrix of such cone may be an arc of a circle tangent to the rounded portion, the radius of the directrix being sufficiently large for the apex of the cone to form an angle of from one hundred to one hundred and twenty degrees.

To prevent any displacement of the cap upon the shell, particularly in oblique .firin g, the said cap should be firmly secured to the segmental surface of the shell-point. This result is attained by forming near the base of the pointed portion of the shell a circular groove e beneath the shoulder f, while leaving at the open end of "the cap an internal head or flange adapted to be driven into the groove beneath the shoulder provided round the projectile, as stated, the highest possible degree of shrinkage being applied for the purpose. Toward the point the said groove should be cut practically at right angles to the segmental surface of the shell, while toward the base of the shell-point its wall should be gently sloping, so as to fit in with or join the This groove in the segmental part of the shell or projectile should be made beforehand-that is to say,

before the-projectile is subjected to the temporing operation-in order to enable the effect of the tempering to extend deeper in the direction of the groove; whereas if the said groove were cut in the projectile after tempering the resistance of the segmental portion of said projectile would thereby-be materially reduced.

In order to prevent the cap from becoming disconnected from the shell prematurely at the time of the impact in oblique firing, it is imperative to place the groove, which, as has M just been stated, serves to lock the cap in position, at the greatest possible distance in the rear of the projectile-point. This distance, which is limited only by the necessity of leaving the necessary room or play between the inner walls of the gun and the largest external diameter of the cap, should be greater than or at least equal to two-thirds of the total length of the mean arc of the segmental surface measured from the point of the projectile-to the center of the front zone or belt.

Preferably the material of the cap from the head to the projectile is of gradually-decreasing hardness.

Having-now fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire toprotect by Letters Patent, is

t l. A shell or projectile provided with acap, the striking portion of, which is of hard material and theportion in contact'with the projectile of soft material.

2. A shell or projectile provided with a cap,

thestriking portion of which is of hard ma terial and the portion in contact with the projectile of soft material, and the intermediate portion of graded hardness.

In testimony of which invention I have hereunto set my hand.

HENRI AIME BRUSTLEIN.

Witnesses:

D. 'SLEH, HASUY SUNOUGH. 

